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   Home » Horn-Loaded Speakers» RAAL “Water Drop” tweeter for Macondo. (78 posts, 4 pages)
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  »  New  Macondo Horns: biography...  Macondo with Pussy Eyes....  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     2  62568  05-18-2005
  »  New  Ultimate HF output transformer?..  Leads to further air core heads...  Melquiades Amplifier  Forum     7  105279  07-14-2005
  »  New  It’s mad, mad, mad... electricity...  System Warm up...  Audio Discussions  Forum     1910  9831336  10-12-2006
  »  New  Tweeter for Vitavox S2. High-sensitively ribbons?..  Correction: Townshend Ribbon and sensitivity....  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     64  837825  10-19-2006
  »  New  Macondo Frame modification...  Parquet...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     46  460152  12-22-2006
  »  New  The Full (fuller) Range Ribbons..  Pol Roger......  Audio Discussions  Forum     3  38556  02-22-2007
  »  New  Macondo's Axioms: Horn-loaded acoustic systems..  A link to another thread....  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     120  672694  07-29-2007
  »  New  6 Channel Version of Super Melquiades..  The first Milq screw up....  Melquiades Amplifier  Forum     131  1242631  08-08-2007
  »  New  Omni-directional 'horny' speaker from RAAL..  Omni...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     31  239621  12-12-2007
  »  New  The Active High Frequency Solution - AHFS..  Small problems with the camera lens can be mistaken for...  Playback Listening  Forum     5  58711  02-06-2008
  »  New  Horn loaded ribbons and other Vasyachkin’s tangents......  Applied / evolved audio...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     33  220746  11-02-2008
  »  New  About HF Binaurallism..  What is going on now....  Playback Listening  Forum     1  25526  11-27-2010
  »  New  Raal's Lazy Ribbon: a worthy cousin of Water Drop?..  Your comment takes me by surprise...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     77  918269  02-24-2011
  »  New  Aries Cerat Contendo - the newest "fat" kid i..  It is very unfortunate then...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     5  52534  09-08-2011
02-24-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
oxric
Posts 194
Joined on 02-12-2010

Post #: 76
Post ID: 15641
Reply to: 15635
Should we emulate what we admire?
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Jorge wrote:
I tend to think that we are not copying Romy, but more that he has generated a school of thought on audio and yes horns speakers also.

I too have a system following some of the Macondo Axioms, but have used all diferent drivers.

As with other drivers, I tried several tweeters for my horn setup, some of them : Beyma CP21 (very good could get scratchy) : Stage Accompany (also very good and smooth) : Fostex TA500 (very very good but once you get the sound of ribbons I could not live with these) and right now the Lazy Ribbons from RAAL.

I fearfully contacted RAAL for the Water Drop tweeter expecting a high price and was reccomended the Lazy ribbon by Aleksandar.
 
As soon as I installed them I Forgot they existed! 

They blended in perfectly, not calling attention to them in a sense that the tweeters would make themselves present, some times high pitched voices would "go to the tweeter" and sound completely highish and not natural, or the violins will loose body and weight and come out thin like from the tweeter only or in some passages sound scratchy.  Not the RAAL, they just extend the frequency of your system wonderfully.

I am using the standard version, no Amorohous core and not the direct drive.  I have them hooked up at 111 db with an impedance of 3.5 ohms.  I do make a LOT of tests and I have not suffered because of the transformers or the impedance.  I bought these thinking on upgrading later to the direct drive version (I do multiamplify sometimes) but the normal ones sound so good I have not even turned around to look at them anymore!  There would be a lot of upgrades coming before I think about changing or upgrading my RAAL tweeters.

I have tried to measure them but either my RTA cannot get as high or they measure awful, but what do I care when they sound so good!

About the looks, well I listen to music with my eyes closed, so I dont really care.



Hi Jorge:

I am very grateful that you took the time to comment on your use of the Raal Lazy Ribbon. It is the first time, as far as I am aware, that anyone has commented on those and it is great that you were able to compare them with other solutions that you have used in the past.

You sound perfectly satisfied with these as they are. Nonetheless, I would think that amorphous core might, at these frequencies, on paper at least, have an advantage over the standard ferrite ones, although as Alex told me, they are 'very good'. It would be great to compare but that will not prove practicable in most cases unfortunately. Well, never mind, I will take the designer's word for truth.

I am listening to Cecilia Barloli wonderful recording 'Live in Italy' using only one channel of a Beveridge electrostatic speaker ( recent purchase, but I am listening to a single channel presently for reasons I can't bear to go into) and for all the obvious weaknesses in the bass and upper bass (because of speaker placement in a sharp corner I am hoping), the midrange and the highs are simply so beautifully natural, well-integrated that I forget about my woes and just bask in the glory of Cecilia Bartoli's voice, the palpability and naturalness of the violin and piano. 

I am fully in agreement with what you say about not seeking to 'copy' but if anything, one should do no more than taking inspiration from the 'Macondo axioms,' although I think the phrase is a misnomer. If i used the word 'copy' above, I am doing myself a great disservice and really should have said 'emulate,' in that I see such a strong sense of purpose, coherence and unifying whole in Romy's playback that I can nearly hear it without even being there, if you see (hear) what I mean. I have of course travelled my own journey in this hobby, and have strongly held beliefs, many of which are in complete disagreement with Romy's views (and when provoked enough I do say so on occasions). I will say one thing though, the philosophy that Romy adopts is so coherent that it has a feeling of inevitability and inexorability about it, if you go down his multi-channel route.

As for your not caring about looks when one listens to music, I agree and disagree. I agree for the very banal reason that the experience transcends anything as ephemeral as external appearance. Nonetheless, in life when we can, we try to capture not only the performance or function of a thing, but also a representation of it that captures or suggests its essence if at all possible.

Regards
Rakesh

02-24-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,106
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 77
Post ID: 15643
Reply to: 15635
I would like to see a better name for this product.
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Jorge wrote:
About the looks, well I listen to music with my eyes closed, so I dont really care.

Well, it is not how I see it. The topology of acoustic systems like Macondo implies the stand-alone tweeters. So, why do not make it attractive, or at least do not attracting attention but the fact that it is different? You see in Macondo MF island all channels are spherical, so I think it would be visually benefited if HF channels will not have hard rectangular shape. I leave the sonic reasons aside and approach tweeter just like a piece of furniture. If we already pay money for a driver and if we do not buy it in Radian Shake but talk directly to driver maker then why do not let exactly what you want intern to what manufacture fell comfortable to do. How many times are you are planning to change tweeter? If not frequently then why do not fantasy the tweeter you wish? I know that it would be hard to make but it is not your problem. You just write a check and the maker would suffer all do the difficult part. When I did the Water Drop I did paid more and waited longer just because the odd shape but on a larger scale what is the difference? Do a few more bucks worth for the next 25 years looking at my own speaker and close my eyes? Well, in my room Macondo is a part of room decor and I in fact care how it looks.

The Lazy Ribbon shape has advantage that it mooch be mounted in the frame the hold MF channel, however.  Also the name Lazy Ribbon I do not find was the good one.


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
02-27-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
rickmcinnis
Posts 60
Joined on 10-18-2010

Post #: 78
Post ID: 15651
Reply to: 15643
Your comment takes me by surprise
fiogf49gjkf0d
I am glad to hear you do care what your speaker system looks like, or should I say, will admit you care.

MACONDO is about the best looking speaker system I have ever seen.  It is the embodiment of
van der Rohe's dictum of form following function.  It looks exactly as it needs to look and that is
beautiful to my way of thinking.

Execution is all important.  Macondo sets a goal for what can be done by an individual. 

Of couse, it helps if the individual has talent and sufficient funds to make what he has thought real.

Of course, I have not heard the speaker properly and only hope that one day I will be able.

Romy's playful gruffness would have made me assume that he would say he does not care what the speaker
looks like.  Are we experiencing a softening of the CAT?  New girlfriend? 

I am sure he will call me a moron and I will smile at the compliment.

Bye,
Page 4 of 4 (78 items) Select Pages:  « 1 2 3 4
   Target    Threads for related reading   Most recent post in related threads   Forum  Replies   Views   Started 
  »  New  Macondo Horns: biography...  Macondo with Pussy Eyes....  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     2  62568  05-18-2005
  »  New  Ultimate HF output transformer?..  Leads to further air core heads...  Melquiades Amplifier  Forum     7  105279  07-14-2005
  »  New  It’s mad, mad, mad... electricity...  System Warm up...  Audio Discussions  Forum     1910  9831336  10-12-2006
  »  New  Tweeter for Vitavox S2. High-sensitively ribbons?..  Correction: Townshend Ribbon and sensitivity....  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     64  837825  10-19-2006
  »  New  Macondo Frame modification...  Parquet...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     46  460152  12-22-2006
  »  New  The Full (fuller) Range Ribbons..  Pol Roger......  Audio Discussions  Forum     3  38556  02-22-2007
  »  New  Macondo's Axioms: Horn-loaded acoustic systems..  A link to another thread....  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     120  672694  07-29-2007
  »  New  6 Channel Version of Super Melquiades..  The first Milq screw up....  Melquiades Amplifier  Forum     131  1242631  08-08-2007
  »  New  Omni-directional 'horny' speaker from RAAL..  Omni...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     31  239621  12-12-2007
  »  New  The Active High Frequency Solution - AHFS..  Small problems with the camera lens can be mistaken for...  Playback Listening  Forum     5  58711  02-06-2008
  »  New  Horn loaded ribbons and other Vasyachkin’s tangents......  Applied / evolved audio...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     33  220746  11-02-2008
  »  New  About HF Binaurallism..  What is going on now....  Playback Listening  Forum     1  25526  11-27-2010
  »  New  Raal's Lazy Ribbon: a worthy cousin of Water Drop?..  Your comment takes me by surprise...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     77  918269  02-24-2011
  »  New  Aries Cerat Contendo - the newest "fat" kid i..  It is very unfortunate then...  Horn-Loaded Speakers Forum     5  52534  09-08-2011
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